


The Dare

by aceofsparrows



Category: Anne of Green Gables - L. M. Montgomery, Anne with an E (TV)
Genre: F/M, Post S3, Prompt Fic, The Roof Scene, anne & gil courting is a secret, because we didn't get it in the show, diana tries to save the day with..., interesting results, josie flirts, so gil flirts harder
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-03
Updated: 2020-04-03
Packaged: 2021-03-01 01:48:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,233
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23457304
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aceofsparrows/pseuds/aceofsparrows
Summary: The summer after s3, Anne gets herself into a bit of trouble in contest with Josie Pye over the affections of Anne's secret beau....from a tumblr prompt. :)
Relationships: Gilbert Blythe/Anne Shirley
Comments: 5
Kudos: 205





	The Dare

**Author's Note:**

> "Oh, Anne, are you killed?" is one of my favorite Anne of Green Gables moments, and I'm so thrilled to have written a version of it!
> 
> Enjoy!

It was summer, and they were gathered in the Spurgeons’ yard for lemonade and gossip. The sun shone brightly upon the assembled group of rosy-cheeked college students, and with their bellies full of sweet ice cream and wild stories from the spring term on their tongues they reclined lazily in the warm breeze. 

“Well, Gilbert, how is it being a big fancy medical student at U of T, then?” Josie Pye asked, smiling sweetly at Gilbert. 

“Oh, it’s wonderful,” he replied, squinting into the sun. “But I’m away from all of you, so it will never be as wonderful as it could be were I at Queens.” He found Anne’s gaze across the group and winked at her, relishing how she blushed furiously at it. Their courtship remained a well-kept secret to which only Diana was privy, and he found it the most wonderful secret he’d ever been part of. 

“Oh, but you must be learning so many... _important_ things there. Like _biology_ , and _chemistry_....” Josie, who was seated on one side of Gilbert, leaned uncomfortably close at this remark, seeming to enjoy how he squirmed as she did, torn between scooting away and risking being rude and staying and risking Anne’s wrath later. 

He chose the latter. “Yes, well, Josie, those _are_ the sorts of things one must study when in pursuit of a doctorate. However, I think my favorite subject so far has got to be that of _anatomy_.” The corner of his mouth turned up just slightly as he said that, and he risked another wink at Anne, whose nostrils flared in quite an unladylike fashion, and she uncrossed and recrossed her legs primly at the ankles, raising a challenging eyebrow at him. Unfortunately, Josie practically clung to his side at the innuendo. 

“Oh, really? _Do_ tell...” 

Gilbert opened his mouth to reply, but Diana interrupted him, clearing her throat. 

“You know, I was talking with one of the girls at Queen’s the other day, and she said she’d walked the run of a garden fence once. I was impressed, and I told her I bet even the bravest girl in Avonlea couldn’t-- _wouldn’t_ \-- do that.” 

Josie sat up straight, her face indignant. “Well, then, you’re going to lose that bet Diana. I am most certainly braver than all of you ladies, and I’ll prove it.” 

She stood, straightening her skirts, and marched over to where a white picket fence bordered one edge of the yard. Carefully, she climbed up onto the run (with the slight aid of the fence post) and walked it proudly. “See, Diana? Easy as pie.” 

Josie alighted from the fence gracefully, setting herself down next to Gilbert even closer than before. 

Anne frowned. “Well, one little fence run doesn’t make you the queen of the world, Josie, does it, Diana? Why, I knew a girl in Hopetown who could walk to the ridgepole of a _roof_.” She put her nose in the air in a haughty way Diana and Gilbert knew well, and Joise narrowed her eyes at Anne. 

“Is that a challenge, Shirley?” 

Anne cocked her head. “I don’t know, is it?” 

“I bet you won’t walk the ridgepole of Moody’s kitchen roof right now, Anne,” Josie said, tone colder than it had been in years as she pointed to the roof. 

Anne stood, patting her skirts. “Alright, then. Moody, would you be so kind as to fetch me a ladder? I’m going to show Josie I’m the bravest girl in Avonlea.” 

Moody’s eyebrows knitted in concern. “Anne, I don’t--” 

“Ah ah ah, Moody, please. Just get me a ladder?” 

He nodded, and returned in a moment with a long ladder that he and Charlie leaned up against the end of the house. Anne, who by luck was wearing one of her old dresses and pinafores and, thank God, her flat work boots, mounted the ladder then as her classmates looked on in a range of horror to fascination. 

“Anne, I don’t think this is a good idea...” Gilbert called up to her as she reached the chimney. 

“I’m fine, Gil.” 

“Anne, please,” Diana pleaded, hands clasped before her almost in prayer, teeth worrying her bottom lip. “This was a mistake, please come down.” 

“Hush, Diana,” Anne called. “You’ll make me lose my concentration.” 

Diana hushed, and Anne took a deep breath. Slowly, agonizingly, she started across the ridgepole, putting one foot carefully in front of the other. 

She had almost made it halfway when the wind picked up. It ruffled her flyaway hair and caught up her pinafore, but she did not let it try her balance. She kept going, eyeing the next chimney, not daring to spare a glance below her for even a moment. 

But there was a shingle loose. And just after she was over halfway her toe happened to place a little too much of her weight on that cursed shingle and she lost her footing. 

Her stomach dropped before she did, and the wind and the shingle sent her hurtling through the air toward the ground at such an alarming pace that she had little time to do more than yelp in surprise. 

“Anne!” Diana and Gilbert both exclaimed at once, and the whole flock of students rushed around the side of the house to see where she had fallen. 

There was an Anne-shaped dent in the soft bush that had been planted so conveniently there, and Anne was laying in it, groaning. 

Diana gasped. “Oh, Anne! Tell me, Anne, are you killed? Oh, Anne, are you _killed_!?” 

Anne laughed weakly. “No, no, Diana, I am not killed. Very winded and in all manner of pain at the moment, but not _killed_.” 

“Oh thank goodness,” Diana breathed, and she knelt to give Anne a hand in standing. Gilbert was there too, silent and steadfast, a comforting and supportive hand on Anne’s arm. 

“You shouldn’t have done that, Anne, it was very foolish,” he said quietly, face pale. “And you shouldn’t have started it, Diana. You know how prideful Anne is.” 

Anne patted his arm. “Don’t blame her, Gil, darling. It was me who took the dare to walk the roof, me and only me.” 

Anne tried to walk, but hissed as she stepped and it felt as though she were stepping onto a bed of sharp needles. 

Gilbert frowned, stopping her as she tried to step again. “Anne, you’re hurt.” 

“No, Gil, I’m fine.” 

“Anne...” 

“Gil...” 

Gilbert closed his eyes, exhaling heavily through his nose in frustration. When he opened his eyes again their gaze was full of love and care and tenderness, and Anne couldn’t help but be enraptured by it. “Anne, _let me help you_.”

“Oh, alright, I suppose,” Anne conceded, rolling her eyes but smiling nonetheless. Gilbert smiled as well, and nodded to Diana, who let go of Anne’s arm so Gilbert could sweep her up into his arms. 

“Oh!” Anne breathed, startled, and then laughed. “How chivalrous of you, Gilbert, to carry me so,” and she rested her head on his chest near his handsome chin as he carried her all the way to the wagon to drive her home to Green Gables. 

Needless to say, there were no more attempts to win the affections of neither Gilbert Blythe nor Anne Shirley-Cuthbert. It was quite clear who was whose, and it seemed that at last the Good Doctor had found himself a worthy patient. 


End file.
